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Interdicted Nateete OC redeployed

The former Nateete Police Station Office in-Charge, who was arrested and stripped of his rank in public on the orders of President Museveni, has bounced back.

Friday May 27 2011

REDEPLOYED: Mr Ssamata argues with residents of Nateete during the eviction in 2009. FILE PHOTO

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By Andrew Bagala

The former Nateete Police Station Office in-Charge, who was arrested and stripped of his rank in public on the orders of President Museveni, has bounced back. Mr Robert Ssemata has been redeployed in Lira District as the district police commander, a bigger post than he held at Nateete Police Station two years ago.

He has replaced Seiko Chemonges who was transferred to Mukono Police Station as the district police commander.

Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba confirmed the redeployment of Mr Ssemata. “He was cleared by the police legal system. It is a standard procedure in the Police Act that if a person is cleared of the case, he reports back to the superiors and they redeploy him or her. He was posted upcountry,” Ms Nabakooba said yesterday.

Mr Ssemata, Mr Moses Swaleh and Mr Gad Tumuhirwe were arrested and taken to court on charges of neglect of duty following a suspected July 2009 illegal eviction in which residents were reportedly beaten.

PromotedTheir lawyer, Mr Frederick Ntende, successfully convinced a Makindye Magistrate’s Court to defer the case until the High Court makes a decision on whether it was right to prosecute the officers, who were doing their job by executing the court order.

At the time of his suspension, Mr Ssemata was still a police cadet but Daily Monitor has learnt that President Museveni has confirmed him as an Assistant Superintendent of Police.His redeployment coincides with the recalling of other senior police officers, who were suspended for suspected indiscipline and corruption, to supervise junior officers.

The recalled officers are reinforcing the stretched security forces participating in blocking the ongoing walk-to-work protests. Most of them have been deployed in the Field Force Unit, a unit that deals with patrolling around the city and violent situations.